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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “facades”

wp.org orders by popularity, so a plugin a host bundled onto millions of sites, or a big-brand one that's slow and mediocre, can sit at the top. Our ranking is built to answer a different question: which of these is actually worth installing. How this works →

For “facades”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 4 of the top 20. 3 plugins are pushed down for signals wp.org ignores: errors, a host-installed base, or removal risk.

wp.org search ranks on

Install count (uncapped), the raw star average, freshness, and support. Popularity dominates, so the biggest install base usually wins regardless of how it got there.

We add

A cap on the install boost, volume-weighted ratings, and signals wp.org can't see: whether it throws errors on current PHP, whether the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.

Ranked above its merit

PowerUp – Admin Tools (Login/Logout Redirects, Scripts & Comments Control) shows at wp.org #6 but places #12 on merit, a gap of 6 places. Its 100+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 1 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Embed Plus for YouTube Gallery, Livestream and Lazy Loading with Facades 100K+ · 4.6★ (572) wp.org #1 2 NitroPack – Performance, Page Speed & Cache Plugin for Core Web Vitals, CDN & Image Optimization 90K+ · 4.3★ (311) wp.org #2 3 F12 Profiler 400+ · 4.0★ (6) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 Embeds for YouTube 9K+ · 4.2★ (24) wp.org #12 ↓2 8 too low 5 Interactive Real Estate – Floor Plan & Building Visualizer 30+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #8 ↑1 3 too low 6 Quick Maps – Google Maps Without API Key 70+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #3 3 too high 7 Blockenberg — 645 Advanced Gutenberg Blocks, 683 Templates and AI Agent for WordPress Block Editor 1K+ · 4.6★ (5) wp.org #5 2 too high 8 BaseCloud Boost 40+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #7 1 too high 9 Simple WP Slider 30+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #9 ↓1 10 TubeBay – YouTube Product Video Gallery & Embeds for WooCommerce 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #10 ↑9 11 Snappy 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #11 12 PowerUp – Admin Tools (Login/Logout Redirects, Scripts & Comments Control) 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #6 6 too high 13 RankShield — Ranking & Ad-Spend Attack Protection 30+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #13 ↓1 14 BrickellPay Gateway for WooCommerce — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #14 ↓1 15 EmiCache – Faster Elementor, Better PageSpeed 40+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #15 16 WPSwings AI Website Optimizer — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #16 17 Story Video Block – Fast Video Player, YouTube Embed & Testimonials for Gutenberg — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #17 18 Etu Blocks — Interactive Accessible Block Library & Page Builder — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #18 19 Ahime Joinery Configurator for WooCommerce — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #19 ↑1 20 Flipbooker – PDF Flipbook & Reader Analytics — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #20 ↑1 21 GameTranslate Performance Toolkit — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #21 ↑1 22 Share of Answer Video Pages — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #22 ↑1 23 Leadovation Aero Hangar — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 ↑1 24 VidCellar Lite — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #24

Merit ranking caps the install boost at 1M (wp.org leaves it uncapped), replaces the raw star average with a volume-weighted Bayesian score and a Wilson lower bound, and keeps wp.org's own freshness and compatibility decays. Method from the plugin-directory source; see Meta Trac #8298. Positions are tracked daily from the first visit to a keyword, so the small arrows show movement since tracking began.